The Flehartys's Copy of B. Tobey of The New Yorker

B. Tobey of The New Yorker is Barney Tobey's 1983 cartoon collection. All the drawings are from the magazine not-so-casually mentioned in the title, published between 1949 and 1981. A copy inscribed to the Flehartys in December of the year of publication is currently available from Curtis Paul Books, Inc., of Northridge, California. 

Barney Tobey
AbeBooks listing accessed October 7, 2025

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/B-Tobey-New-Yorker-Dodd-Mead/31680705295/bd

Barney Tobey
AbeBooks Item Description

Note:  Take a trip into the blog archives to compare Lawrence R. Quinn's copy of B. Tobey of The New Yorker here.

05084

Barney Tobey: Rural Renewal

In March, Hill Auction Gallery of Surnise, Florida, offered a piece by cartoonist Barney Tobey that was published in The New Yorker back in 1980. The original art shows us a small corner of our ever-changing world loosely but convincingly rendered in ink, wash, and correction fluid:

A ten-word caption pulls the whole thing together:

"Ed, remember my barn when it had cows in it?"
Barney Tobey
Framed original art
The New Yorker, July 21, 1980, p. 27

Barney Tobey's signature

Caption

The auction house gave this Tobey piece a broad valuation of $100 to $1,000. As a genuine, published New Yorker cartoon with something relevant to say, one could reasonably expect the art market to support this estimate but, alas, it did not:

Barney Tobey
Hill Auction Gallery listing ended March 26, 2025

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/barney-tobey-1906-1989-farmer-cartoon-illustration-361-c-fdf4814a36?objectID=195608596&algIndex=archive_prod&queryID=07bf770b690d11f324e9e30e123aa83f

The auction house describes the barn as having been "modernized into a living space," but it is more plausibly now a restaurant.

Barney Tobey
Hill Auction Gallery item description

"Ed, remember my barn when it had cows in it?"
Barney Tobey
The New Yorker, July 21, 1980, p. 27

"Ed, remember my barn when it had cows in it?"
Barney Tobey
Original art
The New Yorker, July 21, 1980, p. 27

With a spot drawing by P and a cartoon by Barney Tobey

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1980-07-21/flipbook/026/

* * *

A spot drawing by P

July 13, 2025 Update:  The drawing is now available from Curated Cartoons.

Barney Tobey
Curated Cartoons listing accessed July 13, 2025

https://www.curatedcartoons.com/products/remember-my-barn?_pos=1&_sid=c2018609d&_ss=r

Note:  This old blog still has enough room to post and comment on a barnful of original art by Barney Tobey. Farmers and collectors please take note.

Perhaps some knowledgable reader can inform a curious blogger of the identity of spot artist P?

04956

How Do You Like Your Portraits, Ernest?

Contributor David from Manhattan writes:

The recent essay by Adam Gopnik, "Subject and Object," is a careful dissection of  the famous and controversial 1950 New Yorker profile by Lillian Ross, "How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen?" illustrated, one forgets, with a tiny pen & ink drawing of [Ernest] Hemingway by Reginald Marsh. 

Ernest Hemingway
Reginald Marsh
The New Yorker, May 13, 1950, p. 36

The long Ross Profile described her encounter with the famous author as he roamed Manhattan with Miss Ross in tow. Merely by quoting him at length (accurately as it turns out), and reporting how he moved through the day, the Hemingway in this profile comes across as a clown and a sad parody of himself. It hasn't been forgotten, as Gopnik makes clear. Published in time for the 100th anniversary issue of The New Yorker, the essay features a full-page color drawing by Barry Blitt, based, we are told in tiny print, on a photograph "courtesy Lillian Ross Estate."

Ernest Hemingway and Lillian Ross
Barry Blitt
The New Yorker, February 17 & 24, 2025, p. 151

Perhaps for that reason Blitt didn't sign his drawing, though a proper credit line appears beneath it. The drawing is not especially funny, something rarely said about a Blitt drawing. And to make things more interesting, in-between the Gopnik piece and Ross's original profile, she published "Hemingway Told Me Things" in the May 24, 1999 issue, about his letters and warm advice to her. This piece is illustrated with a caricature by Edward Sorel. 

Lillian Ross and Ernest Hemingway
Edward Sorel
The New Yorker, May 24, 1999, p. 71

In 1999 Miss Ross wished to present Hemingway in a far more generous light than the 1950 piece, but forty-nine years is a long time to wait before applying damage control. Fortunately, Sorel, quietly ignoring Ross's good cheer, royally allowed himself an artist's fun with a famous author full of himself, and a still rising journalist not quite sure of what she was in for. The small background image of a photographer in the oval mirror with his flash, even reduced on the magazine page, is a masterful touch in a drawing far more elegant, accurate and funny than the Ernest in the Gopnik piece, though in fairness to Blitt, his Hemingway is clearly intended to be more illustration than target. It's unlikely that Sorel's drawing wasn't lodged in Blitt's memory; there was no reason to compete. But both artists are certainly on firmer ground than Reginald Marsh. His portrait of Ernest was left out, unfairly I think, when Simon & Schuster in 1961 reprinted the Ross profile in a very attractive clothbound 65-page book and retitled Portrait of Hemingway, the year of the author's death.

Portrait of Hemingway by Lillian Ross

* * *

With an illustration by Reginald Marsh and a cartoon by Barney Tobey

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1950-05-13/flipbook/036/

With an illustration by Edward Sorel

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1999-05-24/flipbook/070/

With a header by Timo Kuilder and an illustration by Barry Blitt

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/2025-02-17/flipbook/150/

Note:  My thanks to David from Manhattan for surprising me with today's piece. This is his sixty-sixth contribution to Attempted Bloggery.

* * *

"Notice the little ruffle, which gives it that feminine touch."
Barney Tobey
The New Yorker, May 13, 1950, p. 37

* * *

The Critics
Timo Kuilder
The New Yorker, February 17 & 24, 2025, p. 150

 04878

Barney Tobey: Santa at Sea

A printed color Christmas card designed by cartoonist Barney Tobey gives us Santa Claus making a special delivery. He is rowing to a lighthouse on his own without a reindeer in sight. We see the beam catching him full on. The card, signed by its sender, has lost its envelope and bears no date.

Barney Tobey
eBay listing ended December 10, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/355256840415?hash=item52b6f530df:g:JJgAAOSwW8hlbQ8E&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwC7PRVQxYfHmD62qSynR9nDV9%2BxVP9J9KeBNUs3hq%2F33Z%2B%2Fjuf542X4XnpICYRAwcd1tz9NRPwNEbg6rGCYNJ%2FuxXNhD8hilwx7wPI9uUyl6WUa4sB

CpK8cEWJSbVMFN8ihhVRxgwcXwRBe7c%2Fc9zW%2FUDfHUjEch2xBh9Q3SV2IlvQcvZiduITU%2FCcfmxfPHHK9gtuLZEF0oNGK4Z7lJkJWGBhOPr3cYsGCzxGADDIPHMew2OLMQqDmer5k2Orn3w%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_7P3tuXYw

Barney Tobey
eBay item description

Barney Tobey
eBay bid history
One bidder places five early bids and a second bidder places five late bids. Now who do you suppose wins?

04813

Barney Tobey: The Baseball Scout's Discovery

An original published cartoon by Barney Tobey from the 1940s was sold on eBay in October. Set in the business office of a baseball team, its humor reflects some broadly accepted sexist attitudes towards women at the time. The sale price for the artwork was a best offer somewhere below $324.99.

"One of our scouts discovered her sitting next to him in the stands one day."
Barney Tobey
Original cartoon art
IAC?, April 1940s

Caption

Barney Tobey's signature

Barney Tobey
eBay listing ended October 25, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154403168724?hash=item23f32561d4:g:JtEAAOSwdZJgVzcA

Barney Tobey
eBay item description

Note:  I don't know what IAC stood for in the 1940s or where this drawing may have been published, but I'm willing to learn. Those in the know should enlighten me. 

04562